Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts)
Thursday
Restaurant nourishes more than just bodies
By Dianne Williamson
When Van and Mary Aroian’s son came to Worcester from Texas to
celebrate his dad’s 90th birthday, the couple knew they wanted to take
him to their favorite local restaurant.
The trio was on its way to Volturno’s June 28, with Van at the wheel,
when a driver ran a red light on Chandler Street near June and T-boned
Van’s car on the driver’s side. The airbags deployed and Van crashed
through a light pole and hit the brick side of Diana’s restaurant.
“My mom plays the accordion and their car looks just like her
instrument,” said their son, Mihran Aroian. “It’s a miracle that my
father survived.”
Mihran suffered minor injuries and 86-year-old Mary broke her arm. Van
suffered the worst of it, with cuts and bruising all over his body,
along with injured knees. He was admitted to UMass Memorial Medical
Center for five days, then transferred to a local rehabilitation
facility.
“We really got whopped,” was how Van put it. “We got whacked all over
the place.”
Van and Mary have been married for 60 years. They raised Mihran and
his brother in a single-family home on June Street, where they still
live. Van is a retired urban planner and historian for the Armenian
community; Mary is an artist.
About once a week they eat at Volturno’s on Shrewsbury Street. Van is
a diabetic and loves the fresh salmon and whole-wheat pasta; his wife
appreciates the homemade food and extensive wine list. Both enjoy the
hospitality of the staff, which always greets them warmly.
“Restaurants are about more than food,” said owner Greg Califano Jr.
“It’s about making connections and relationships. We want to create an
atmosphere where people come and feel like family. We wanted to create
a community.”
The elder Aroian had been in rehab for five days when his wife and son
resumed their aborted trip to Volturno’s. Mary was greeted warmly and
asked about her husband’s absence, so she recounted the accident. At
some point during the meal, her son
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ended up speaking to Greg Califano Sr. — a partner at Volturno’s with
his son – and his wife, Elizabeth.
“Your parents are so sweet,” Elizabeth told Mihran. “What can we do to help?”
Jokingly, Mihran replied that his father complains about the food at
rehab and wished he could be eating at Volturno’s instead. In
addition, the kitchen at rehab was plying him with pizza, pasta,
pancakes and other food not suitable for diabetics. He was losing
weight and his blood sugar level was high.
“I can fix this problem,” Elizabeth responded.
The next afternoon - after refusing to let the Aroians pay for their
dinner - Elizabeth showed up at Van’s bedside with a healthy lunch:
wild salmon on a bed of greens and salad. As Van devoured his meal,
the pair discussed art, culture, travel and family
“The food was quite a gift, believe me,” Van said. “And I’m a sick
guy, I’m not the most entertaining man in the world, but she still
stayed for two hours.”
Before she left. Elizabeth told Van she planned to bring him lunch
every day until he left rehab. A stubborn man, Van objected.
Eventually, he agreed she could bring him one more meal, which she
did, the day before he was discharged.
Van left rehab on Sunday and is doing well, but it’s too early to say
how he’ll respond to Elizabeth’s plan to continue bringing him lunch
to his home on June Street. But it’s not too early to note that both
Mihran and his brother celebrate their birthdays today, and the
Aroians will spend it nowhere else than with their adopted family at
Volturno’s.
Mihran, 59, a 1980 WPI grad, is a professor at the University of Texas
at Austin. He lives in Austin with his wife and kids; his wife has
also come to Worcester for tonight’s celebration.
“There’s a saying called, ‘Texas friendly,’ “ Mihran noted. “Texans
are great, but I’ve never seen a gesture like this. People don’t do
this kind of thing. That family really believes in the restaurant
they’ve created.”
Tonight, then, the Arorians will celebrate with good food and wine at
an eatery that serves up more than fine food. They will offer toasts
to birthdays, family, good fortune and the sweetest of small gestures
that help define a community.
“We’ll have a wonderful dinner and I can’t imagine otherwise,” Mihran
said. “You know why? I could have lost my parents, but they’re alive.
For me, yeah, it’s my birthday. But it’s mainly a celebration of life.
And it’s a miracle.”
